Following a series of border talks held this week, South Korean officials said Friday that North Korea agreed to let families separated by the decades-old Korean War reunite sometime in February. On Wednesday, North Korean had officials threatened to cancel the reunions due to a joint South Korean and U.S. military exercise scheduled for Feb. 24.

But the North Koreans on Friday agreed to allow the reunions to occur on Feb. 20-25, one day after Secretary of State John Kerry spoke out against the North Korean threat, the New York Timesreports.

The reunions, as well as this week’s border talks, represent a loosening of North and South Korean tensions. The talks were the first of such among high-level officials in seven years, according to the Times.